This place Nasik has a special significance. Long time back, say about eight thousands years back, when Shri Rama went away for his exile, he came to Maharashtra and he passed through various places and he settled down in Nasik, this place, with his wife.

And here a lady who was actually the sister of Ravana, called Shurpanakha, she tried to entice Shri Rama. Now this quality of enticing men or enticing women are really demonic and that is how people call them ‘rakshasas’. Because those who are demonic people are people who are by nature aggressive, full of ego [and] want to overpower everyone. And they feel quite satisfied if their ego is satisfied. So all the people who were like that, were called as ‘rakshasas’ in this country. It was not a normal human behaviour, according to them.

So these rakshasas were more living in the northern part, northernmost part of India and they have different categories as described. So those who run after women were called by some other name and where the women try to dominate them are called by some other name. Where the men try to become like women there’s another name. But they were never called as human beings. They were called as ‘rakshasas’ or ‘vetalas’ and all other names. But nowadays you find such a confusion that you don’t know whom to call what! (laughing)

But the human beings in those days were sensible, matured people who, with the age, matured. Now you have to notice on the streets of Maharashtra – just now I was coming by train. I saw no men, there was nobody who was interested in women, no women were interested in men. Some men were hugging each other; walking around very innocently. I mean, the whole thing was that life is innocence. And that is what it was here when this rakshasa’s sister, Shurpanakha. So nowadays, if there is any woman in India who behaves like that, tries to entice men, is called Shurpanakha.

So this woman came and tried to entice Shri Rama. Imagine! What audacity! So, Shri Rama being sankochi – means he was a man full of grace – he told her, “See now, what’s the use of running after me? I have already got a beautiful wife. So why do you run after me? Better try my brother who has no wife!” Because he knew that his brother is a Sheshnaga; he is a very big serpent called Sheshanag, Shesha. And he is a hot tempered fellow and he will just know how to deal with this woman! “I can’t manage this show!” Because he would not ill-treat a woman; it was too much for Him. Though she was Shurpanakha, and not only that, but she was also a woman.

So he asked her that, “You go and see him.” Lakshmana was sitting outside. Lakshmana had taken a vow to be a brahmachari, a celibate man, with fourteen years penance, though he was a married man. This he had to do and that’s the only way he could kill another demon whose name was Meghnad, who had run away with his daughter, called as Sulochana. It’s a long story! So, [to] make it short, this fellow went to this brahmachari, Lakshmana – though he had a wife in Ayodhya, he was leading a life of brahmachari. It’s very common in India. I mean, if your wife is away, you just think about her, and you are in separation, still you enjoy your wife thinking about her and thinking about the good things she has done to you. But if she has done all the time bad things you don’t want too think about her and then all these demonic things start.

All right.

So this, when she went and started. She dressed up very well, in a very attractive manner, tried to show off her body and all that, in the very funny way, and not in the traditional, decent way, but a very indecent, indecorous manner, just to attract the fellow. He was so angry with her [that] he just cut her nose so [that] she should not do this to anybody else and get rid of her pride of nonsense. To kill her ego. Because nose is the one that actually expresses the ego part.

So when he cut her nose – the nose is called as ‘nasika’ in Sanskrit language, is called as nasika. This was the place where the nose was cut and that’s why this place was called as ‘Nasik’.

So now we have to remember we have come to an area where noses can be cut! (laughter) So one has to be careful and on the watch out that we do not show any symptom like Shurpanakha did henceforth. We should behave in a manner that we are Sahaja Yogis and Sahaja Yoginis. And we have to have that right type of conduct which comes from the purity inside.

So, as this is now actually the beginning of the tour in the real sense of the word, I have to make certain suggestions to all of you that our behaviour should be very decent and decorous so that all the vibrations that are flowing through us which are holy vibrations, auspicious vibrations, should not be spoiled by our ego or our Shurpanakha ideas or any such nonsense which has no relevance to your ascent. All this comes from decadence, the decadence we have gone through. And because you have come up you can see the decadence of the society.

So here you have to show through your good behaviour, good dress and good conduct, the beauty that you have developed within yourself. And that now you belong to a society which has ascended and the decadence is over now. It is only for you to watch that and to help others to come out of it.

[The] beginning of the tour at Nasik is a very holy and auspicious thing that has happened to all of you because the river here Godavari is called as ‘The Ganges of the South’. But as in every pure thing all the filth is put in, this great kshetra, the pilgrimage, is ruined by many people who want to exploit it. We call them as ‘bhatjees’ (priests). They are the ones who are making money out of the temples, out of the holiness of this place. To them Sahaja Yoga is a challenge because you can do it without any money, without any work, without any extra sacrifices. That they can’t understand. According to the theory of all these people, all over the world, if you see, is this, [is] that all those who are seeking should hand over the purse to the people who are in charge, first of all.

Secondly, those who are seeking should become absolutely miserable in their seeking. They should suffer, suffer and suffer till they become just bones and die. They have to go on sacrificing everything, going through tortures till they reach God.

This is not the way the ascent has to be achieved, as you have learned it. This is true not only of Hindus, also of Jains, also of Christianity, also of Islam. The way it is preached today is all adharma. There is no dharma in it. That’s why the establishment of our dharma is very important, which is the pure religion which gives you ascent, joy, peace and the blessings of God. This is what is ‘Vishwa Nirmala Dharm’.

Now I have to also say that this place has another significance that we have a very powerful Jain (Dr. Sanghve), a gentleman who has come to this dharma. Now, Jainism again the same style it’s going, same perversions as we have seen. Like in Jains if I go on telling you, you will laugh and laugh, and your stomach would start paining you (from so much laughter). So I don’t want to go about it – the way the Jains are mad about vegetarianism. They want to save all the mosquitoes, bugs, everything and kill the human beings with money. They are the Jews of our country and they have really extracted people, their money and everything – very rich people here – but they don’t kill a mosquito or kill a bug. That’s what they are.

So now this kind of thing is on. And Dr. Sanghve, who is a very learned man, his wife is another very affectionate and dedicated Sahaja Yogini; his son, daughter in law: all of them have understood that religion cannot be such madness that you start saving the mosquitoes and not the human beings. The attention is from the other end, which, of course, is against Mahavira’s principle. Mahavira on the contrary had described the hell the best. He is the one who being the incarnation of the essence of Bhairava and described the hell very well. And in England we have William Blake, who has also done the same way because he is the same style. He is the same thing. What is hell that he described: there are worms, there are mosquitoes, this, that. And just the opposite of that – is to save the mosquitoes and bugs – shows how we go just the other way round, how we oppose the religious achievements of these great people – those who tried to teach something sensible. How we make a nonsense out of it.

That is how, here, we see that the Jains should see how Shri Mahavira is being misinterpreted and insulted in many places. This is a very big achievement I feel, that some people have started seeing this light and they will start seeing it more and more.

Also we have some very good musicians here, as you have heard him. And his whole party was so beautiful. I heard about him, that he sang beautiful songs for you and you enjoy all the music programme. And he also sang some very nice English songs. It’s a good beginning. Because, as you are singing Marathi songs and Hindi songs, our Indians also should sing. But they make a melody out of everything so you have to little bit guide them! Because they are melody oriented musicians. So we try to make melody out of everything, otherwise it doesn’t go with our minds all right. So you have to give some guidance and you have to forgive them if you think it is not absolutely all right.

So we have to thank all the people over here for being so kind and so nice to us and receiving [us]. And I hope you are all very comfortable in that place. The only problem was we couldn’t get a proper place, as doctor Sanghve was worried, because Indians are too much hospitable. And he said, “I’ll have to cover all the sides, I don’t want them to get the cold, this, that. I’ll put some heaters there.” But by God’s grace, there’s no need! (laughing) And so pleasant. I was just smiling at him, I said, “Don’t you worry, everything will work out!” And it has worked out [as] you know. We don’t need any heaters. If we need anything, we might need some fans! (laughter)

Like in Madras they said, “We have no water, we have to buy water now from other places. We are all going to be dying!” I said, “All right, you will have water!” So it rained, rained, rained so much that they had floods!

So it should not be felt that there is a problem with the nature. Nature is always with you, will always help you, will be kind. But we have to be kind to ourselves, to our nature. The nature that we have is that we are human beings, we are not rakshasas, we are not devils, we can’t do all these things which are devilish, which are nonsensical.

And once we understand that we are saints, we will know that we have to keep our saintly-hood in such a manner that others can see through our behaviour.

Nasik has another great heritage – that many saints came and did tapas! This is the tapobhoomi. Nasik area is the tapobhoomi – is the land of tapas, tapasyas. And that’s why this is a very, very auspicious land. And here it is. You will see on your way to Dhulia, the incarnation of the Adi Shakti, which is the three powers of the Kundalini completely integrated, expressed here as Saptashringi, meaning ‘seven peaks’.

Now seven peaks are the seven centres in the brain. And the Kundalini, though she has seven centres to pass through, the governing peethas, the seats, are in the peak, in the head, and so Adi Shakti takes place in the Sahastrara. She incarnates in the Sahastrara. So we can say that this is the Sahastrara of Maharashtra or of the Universe in a way, though Himalaya is regarded as the real abode of Sadashiva, which is on top. But the Sahastrara part, which is the limbic area, should be here because we have three and a half coils settled here. That’s why the Kundalini of the Universe is here. But as the Saptashringi has come out of Mother Earth, this is the place where we can say resides the Sahastrara.

Though on top is the Himalaya. And Himalaya we can say is beyond Sahastrara. The three powers of the Goddess I don’t know if you’ll be seeing all these three, expressed in three different places in the Maharashtra. But this is the ardha-matra, the half one, which is the Adi Shakti Herself. And this is what you see in this place and I am sure you will enjoy it tomorrow when you go on your way to Dhulia.

With this understanding that in a subtle way we are in a very important place I hope you all will raise above mundane gross attention into a subtler attention, into a higher attention and enjoy the bliss of God.

May God bless you.

The emblem of the Adi Shakti, of course you know, is a thing like this. We call it a elliptical. You all know that. But the mark of the Adi Shakti is the half moon and a star. You can put a half moon and a bindu – is a point. But that point is a star. So, you see, the Islam follows the star, the inside, and below that is this, the moon. But that’s the half mudra, or we can call it the half of the coil. But half, according to the Western mind, half means it’s bad! But half is the one that takes everything within itself, like the bottom of the sea. Bottom of the sea is always bigger than the sea itself. So this half Shakti takes all the Shaktis into itself. And the Bindu represents the heart or you can say the Atma. So is the complete thing, is the Adi Shakti and the Bindu. That’s the was Islam seal. And in the same way this is the seal of the Adi Shakti, is a half circle. It’s not even half. We should say the first night’s moon and a star. And why this it is used [is] because this is the thing coming from the creation, from the nature.

So that also what we call ‘Islam’ is nothing but is the creation of Adi Shakti.

[Marathi Translation]

Although I spoke in English you must have understood all of it. Yet, what I want to tell is that ours is the Sahaja Yoga and being “Sahaja” we feel, “If God is mine, he will deliver what I want at my seat.” But the Yoga that happens spontaneously, Sahaja, is through the Kundalini awakening and the piercing of the Sahastrara and it is only to this extent that I owe you. Now, suppose you sow a seed in the earth, she is concerned with it only up to the stage when the seed sprouts. Thereafter, no care is necessary on the part of the earth. So, although it was then a spontaneous happening, but now we have become saints, we have become the seeds. However, this seems to be very difficult to understand. We always feel that we are the same persons. Even if we don’t feel, our demeanors are just the same, and it should change. We should realize, that, now that we have become saints we should find out as to how many qualities of saints that Samarth Ramdas Swami and others have told are in us. Our attention should be on evolving them in us and we should find out as to why those qualities do not manifest in us, why the people cannot find them in us, what can be the reason for that.
First of all we should think, “God has sprouted us. It is good, but what next? What have we done for God? We know in Sahaja Yoga that God blesses everybody, Yoga-kshemam- vahaamyaham. You have got the Yoga and so you have the Kshema, i.e. benevolence too, which entails the Yoga, like that which is built in. So, you have your benevolence without doing anything for it. But one more thing should come with benevolence, gratitude. But it does not come. If you have gratitude, immediately a thought will come,” I have received so much for free, what did I do for it? For what have I got it? How did I get it? What shall I give in return, my life or soul?” This thought should come into minds. However it does not happen and we slide back into our old state. “Shri Mataji it so happened that I got my job, now I am getting money, but my daughter is not yet married”. All right, it worked out.” Now this is left!” It means, you continue with your past ways. Does it make any sense? You have joined the Sahaja Yoga, it means first of all you have become saints.
Now see the second word, which is Yoga. It has two meanings. Yoga means getting connected with God or the connection of individual spirit with Shiva, the Supreme Spirit, achieving their unison. But here, the connection is there but no unison. Only we think that there is unison.
The other meaning of the word Yoga is the trick or the skill or the expertise. Have you learnt the trick of the Sahaja Yoga? Have you learnt the skill or expertise of the Sahaja Yoga? If you have not learnt, then what sense does that make? It is incomplete. Suppose we display a board outside that Mr. Sangvi lives here and you have read the board. But have you met Mr. Sangvi? Something like this will be happening if you have not acquired the skill. Suppose you visit a university and tell,” I have visited the university and met its professors.” So, what next? “I have graduated.”How? “I have been to the university and hence I am a graduate”. We had in the past some people who went to England and returned without doing anything worth the name, as we say in Marathi, “Zak marun or in Hindi, Zak marke”. Yet they were called, “England returned”. A Sahaja Yogi without the skill is like those people.
“We are Sahaja Yogis, we are Sahaja Yogis.” Is it so? Then what does this finger represent and what happens when it has burning sensation? “We do not know but we are Sahaja Yogis because we display its badges.” But it does not hold good in Sahaja Yoga. For that one has to become something and do something. And in that doing, one has to remember that sacrifice of some of the things is necessary. Out of that we always make one sacrifice, we sacrifice our intelligence. Do not do that sacrifice. Leaving it aside, speak. You renounce your intelligence and then complain, “Sahaja Yoga has ruined us”. So, barring that thing if the attention is on the renunciation, you should think that you have given up only that which was useless, that which was meaningless.
“The Hare Rama” (from ISKON) people came to me and said, “You live in such affluence”! I 5
said, “It belongs to my husband! What I can I do about it?” They said, “You are so rich and what have you sacrificed? How have you become Devi?” I said, “Only Goddess does not sacrifice. Only she does not renounce rest everybody has to do it. She is the enjoyer. All right? Now you tell me, what you have sacrificed.” They said , “ We have sacrificed this, that etc.” I said, “Is it? Now whatever you find in my house or on my body, which is equivalent to dust or even a particle of dust on Shri Krishna’s feet, you take it away. But it should be equivalent to a dust particle on Shri Krishna’s feet”. That man turned like a stone. He had so many wrinkles on his face that you could not count. And he claimed to be Shri Krishna’s devotee. Is such devotee becoming of Shri Krishna? Shri Krishna’s devotees should always look blooming and fresh, like these people who are sitting here. So I told them,” You are Shri Krishna’s devotee why don’t you answer my question?” They became like stones, without expression. So I further questioned, “What have you sacrificed? Stones? What else are these if not stones? Or this ash, have you sacrificed this?
What is to be sacrificed? What will one sacrifice if one is not attached to anything? What should one do when one wants to sacrifice? Do not be attached. “This is my son, this is my daughter, this is my job, this is my house, this is mine, that is mine.” The “My” and “I “should be given up. So long as this is not detached the Sahaja Yoga will not establish. It should be possible to detach from them. Such detachment seems to be difficult to achieve in Maharashtra, because sons and daughters are like souls to their parents. As if one of them is one eye and the other, the other eye. When the parents become old and children ill-treat their parents then the latter feel, “O, what have we done?”
Whole world should be your family, which is the sign of saints. “Myness” and Iness” should go. “It is to achieve this state that we have dedicated our lives to Sahaja Yoga. What else can we do without God? We are engrossed in God’s work and have no time for other things. We have surrendered our hearts to God and there is no place in them for any kind of ill –feelings. Nothing else occurs in our intellects. Our minds have only the thoughts about Sahaja Yoga and what we can do for that Divine mission. Even our stomach fires cannot digest anything else. Please do not talk to us on any other subject. We cannot bear with it. Having settled in the kingdom of God we are not ready to talk on any other thing. We have no time for it.” Only when you attain such state will your “myness and “Iness” leave you. Unless one is detached from other things one cannot truly practice Sahaja Yoga. But we are rather weak in that respect. So, very few persons can be called as evolved Sahaja Yogis. As a result only one person has to take the load and all others sit idle.
Slowly the Sahaja Yoga grows within but the progress is very slow, inch by inch. I do not know how the Sahaja Yoga wil blossom in this situation. Here you have to become something. It is not making plastic products, like say Shri Mataji has put all in the machine and made statues. This type of work is a dead work. I know that the living work takes time, but it should not take very long time. I wonder what to do and how to do! It is taking rather taking too long at Nasik. And the river Bhagirathi (the Ganga) is flowing. This is the land of penance. Shri Rama and Shri Sita sanctified this land by walking barefoot. I describe all this to these people. Above all Shri Adi Shakti is residing on top of this fort. Despite all this, the juggernaut of Sahaja Yoga moves at very slow speed. Is it not surprising that cart drawn by two ponies is running faster than the chariot drawn by a hundred horses? One cannot understand the reason for this.
Can you imagine how much hard your ancestors have worked here, how many saints came and worked at this land of penance? You should think as to why you have taken birth on this land and having been born at the holy land of Nasik what you are supposed to do.Your attention should not be on frivolous things. Give up your attitude of hankering after wrong things. Instead of that, if you pay attention to what you should have, and come with confidence that we shall lead our lives in satisfaction and having taken up the Divine mission, we have dedicated our lives to God and the light of our spirits shall spread the light of Divine, then you will swim in the ocean of joy. You shall be fully taken care of. God shall give you the benevolence and you will feel that you have achieved life’s fulfillment. May God bless you all with noble minds.

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